Looking for Mister Good-Door (opener) ... or Ms GDO ...

Late last week I was named national sales director for a start-up company that has a sweetheart contract with one of the world s largest (if not THE world s

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, Feb 25, 2013

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Late last week I was named national sales director for a start-up company
that has a sweetheart contract with one of the world's largest (if not THE
world's largest) advertising agencies/media buyers. This start-up company
has the rights to sell this company's discounted ad-buying service into the
untapped hospital and healthcare marketplace.

So I'm looking for people who understand advertising and marketing, who
aren't afraid to try and cold-call a prospect, and who aren't afraid of
earning some truly remarkable commissions for success (though closing a sale
isn't required - that's done by the big parent company).

The almost-but-not-quiet-too-good-to-be-true "hook" involves offering the
prospects an 18% cash rebate (paid up-front, so I guess it's a "pre-bate")
if they'll agree to let this big parent company buy their ad placement for
them (this does NOT push aside the local ad agency, which still does
creative, comes up with the media plans and gets paid their commission for
buying the ads), so one of the big obstacles to success has already been
addressed. The Big Parent Company buys literally billions of dollars worth
of ads every year, so they get huge discounts.

Lest you think this is the affluent from a hosed-off pig (i.e., hogwash),
back in the mid-90s my agency and I were doing a joint venture with Western
International Media - at that time, a huge media buyer. They could take an
ad placement that normally cost 85% of rate card (allowing the ad agency to
earn the mark-up) and buy it for literally two dollars over cost. I was
stunned until I saw the balance sheets. Typically, they'd take what the
client paid (gross), and buy it, then split the 15 percent commission, 8%
for the local ad agency and 7% for themselves. That was on a $3
billion/year ad buy. This company I'm now dealing with buys more than $15
billion/year, so you can imagine the kinds of discounts they get - which is
why they can offer clients that big cash rebate.

I'm still coming to grips with this myself, so these numbers might not be
exactly right, but as I was talking with the company I'm now working with, I
saw a spreadsheet laid out on a hypothetical deal - if memory serves, if a
hospital buys $2 million in ads per year for three years, the commission to
the sales guy who opened the door is something like $107,000. Don't hold me
to that exact figure (though it's very close, if not right on target), but
keep in mind, that's for a single sale, where what you're selling is a
give-back.

Anyway, if you know anybody who'd fit this bill (or if you'd fit that bill)
- hospital/healthcare experience is a plus, but not necessary - please have
them get in touch with me.